


Thorns

by HarperJean



Category: Hanson (Band), Taylor Swift (Musician)
Genre: Disguise, F/M, In Hiding, Light Smut, Murder, On the Run, alternate universe - in hiding, crack ship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 01:46:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12717183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarperJean/pseuds/HarperJean
Summary: All my flowers grew back as thorns...After her boyfriend is murdered, Taylor Swift watches as she is transformed from a grieving lover to a suspect.  She only has one option.  To run.





	Thorns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boomersoonerash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomersoonerash/gifts).



She didn’t feel like she had a choice when she went into hiding. She felt like she was being hunted. And in a way, she supposed, she was. 

She would never get used to the camera flashes and photographers aggressively shouting her name. She tried her best to shield her face with her arm or an umbrella; ducking quickly behind a bodyguard in an attempt to remain unseen. But they always found her. She felt like she had nowhere to hide. 

When her boyfriend had been found murdered in their upper East side apartment, she watched as the media transformed her into a suspect. She felt alone in the middle of New York City, accusing eyes turning towards her everywhere she went. 

So she left. 

She packed as much as she could in a small suitcase, donned the most nondescript outfit she could find in her closet, covered her face with huge sunglasses and a hood, and went to the most random place she could possibly think of. 

She had family in Oklahoma, so she went there.

***

“A maple latte, please,” she muttered, handing the cashier a wad of cash and signalling for them to keep the change. She had plenty of money to blow, and didn’t mind making the coffee shop worker’s day with a huge tip. She kept her sunglasses on until she sat down in a tiny table, taking the seat facing the wall.

She had taken to wearing black, and had dyed her hair darker in an effort to make herself a bit less recognizable. She knew that no one in Tulsa, Oklahoma was necessarily looking for her. They weren’t expecting to see her in a coffee shop. No one here cared about crimes committed in New York City. She hoped that people would think she was just a doppleganger, and not the celebrity herself. Her golden curls had grown out a bit since she was last seen in public, and with the darker hue, she might be able to pull off the ruse. 

She sipped her latte, grinning when the warmth hit her stomach. It was chilly outside, and she wore layers and layers of black clothes, including a scarf that covered her chin. She shoved her earbuds into her ears, hoping no one would try to bother her for the few hours that she allowed herself to be out of the house. She opened her book and buried her face in it, thankful for the winter sun that was streaming through the coffee shop window. 

“Um...excuse me?” 

She didn’t look up from her book, hoping whoever was speaking would notice her earbuds and intense gaze towards the page. 

“Sorry...could I use this chair?” 

She sighed and nodded, trying not to look up at the man trying his best to force himself into her line of vision. 

“Thanks. I’m Taylor.” 

Her eyes raised from the words she had been reading, and glanced quickly up at the man. He was smiling down at her, probably attempting to make her feel comfortable, when all she wanted was to be left alone. Her heart fluttered at the sight of him. She knew exactly who he was. 

“Juliet,” she lied, annoyed at herself for plucking one of the most recognizable names in literary history out of thin air. It was also a name from one of her most popular songs, which made her even more frustrated at herself. She tried her best to shake her bangs over her face as much as possible before offering her hand. 

“Nice to meet you. Are you new in town? I haven’t seen you around.” His blue eyes were jarring. 

“Um, yeah I am,” she replied, trying not to offer up too much information all at once. She didn’t have her story straight yet. 

“Taylor, come on,” a voice called from another table. 

“Sorry, my brothers are waiting. I’ll see you around, Juliet,” he said, waving casually. He had a question in his eyes, and she knew he was trying to figure out how he knew her. Who she reminded him of. Why she looked so familiar.

***

“A maple latte, please,” she said again the next day, once again handing the cashier way too much money. She scanned the shop from behind her glasses, which she had started wearing instead of her contacts. Just another way in which she could distract anyone who thought they might have seen through her pathetic excuse of a disguise.

He was sitting at the table she had occupied the day before. She didn’t know whether to feel annoyed or relieved. She was hoping he’d be there. 

“May I join you?” she asked, surprised at her own carelessness. 

“Sure,” Taylor said, looking up from a stack of papers in front of him. 

“What are you working on?” 

“Approving the layout for the new album. Like, the CD booklet and stuff. My...my brothers and I are in a band and we have a new album coming out.” 

“Oh yeah?” She asked, trying to feign ignorance even though she knew exactly who he was and the band in question. She smiled slightly, and berated herself for flirting with this man. 

“Yeah.” 

“So, Juliet...where are you from?” 

She gulped, silently berating herself for not working out the details of the story she would eventually have to tell people when they started asking. Instead of answering, she shrugged. “The past doesn’t matter, I’m here now,” she tried, hoping that he would accept the vague answer. 

He chuckled. “A mystery woman.” 

“You could say that.”

***

_I’m at the bar down the street from the coffee shop you always seem to be at. Come out if you’re bored._

Her cell phone buzzed and lit up, causing her to turn away from the bright computer screen. She was reading up on all the things the media had said about her in the past few weeks, where everyone thought she was, why she had left, when she was coming back. Plenty of gossip websites thought she was pregnant, and had fled the country in an effort to hide her growing belly. She laughed at those accusations, rolling her eyes. 

She had given Taylor her number, even though she knew it wasn’t the smartest thing to do. But before she could stop herself, she was taking his phone from him and adding her number to his contact list with a mischievous smile. 

_K_

She texted back that single letter and heaved herself up from her bed. She found her boots and tugged them on, pulled on her huge black coat, and headed outside into the cold night-time air. 

He was leaning against the wall in the alleyway beside the bar, smoking a cigarette. 

“Are you going to tell me anything else about yourself?” he asked when she walked up. 

“No.” 

“A woman of very few words.” 

“That’s one way to put it.” 

“What happened to you to put so many walls up?” 

She looked at him intensely, hoping her eyes were piercing through him just as his seemed to be seeing right through her. 

“I don’t have walls,” she said, plucking his cigarette from his fingers and taking a slow drag. “Just thorns.” 

As soon as she blew out the smoke, he reached his hand around her waist and pulled her body towards him. He cradled her chin with his other hand, looking at her carefully before kissing her deeply and aggressively. She responded to the kiss, flicking her tongue into his mouth and pressing her body against his. 

Their hands found their way into each other’s coats, their hips grinding against each other. She could feel his erection under his pants, and she hooked her fingers on his waist band. 

“I swear I’ve seen you before,” Taylor said, trying his best to stifle a moan with conversation. 

She shrugged, biting her lip. “Maybe you have. Maybe we should go somewhere else,” she suggested. 

He narrowed his gaze at her. “You just met me.” 

“And?” She pushed him harder against the wall and kissed him again, rolling her hips against his gracefully, causing him to shudder. 

The stumbled to his car, which was parked down a side street. He pressed her up against it and kissed his way down her neck, before opening the back seat door and guiding her inside. She straddled him as she began to shed her layers of black clothes, kissing him desperately, as if she was on borrowed time. They groaned in unison as she grinded against his erection. He unhooked her bra and she unbuttoned his jeans. She wiggled out of her own panties, and lowered herself onto him. 

He didn’t even know her real name. 

She didn’t even care.


End file.
